Sha Gojyo Kenren Taichou
by Tiro
Summary: Two souls within one body. One dies, and so the other must resurface. The ending has come; what will happen?
1. Chapter 1

**Sha Gojyo / Kenren Taichou **

**Summary**: Two souls within one body. One dies, and so the other must resurface.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Blood and some violence.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Saiyuki in any way.

Saiyuki fic. Haven't written many of them so I'll hope you'll still enjoy this.

-

**Prologue **

It was cold, and Gojyo did not feel so good. His vision was blurred, his lungs hurt with each breath he took, and his body would not respond. He heard the others scream his name, but found no strength to call on them. His fingers twitched, and his shuddering cough brought up more blood. His guts twisted, his body curled inwards at the pain. He wondered briefly if his insides were spilled outside because it sure felt like that.

"Gojyo!"

Someone stroke his hair back from his face. He found strength to open his eyes and look up at Hakkai. The man's face was white, and his eyes were wide.

"Gojyo," he whispered, healing qi already sinking into Gojyo's deep wounds.

"Too late, 'Kai…" Gojyo muttered and then coughed again. Blood splattered onto the ground. Hakkai made a sound frightening alike a sob. "Sorry… take care of the prissy monk and the stupid monkey, 'kay? I think I'm gonna take a nap."

"Gojyo, don't fall asleep," the human turned youkai whispered, pressing harder. "Just stay with me."

"Can't do that, 'Kai," the hanyou said, spitting out some blood. "This sucks."

"Gojyo!"

Hakkai's voice seemed to fade away, and Gojyo felt too tired to answer. He succeeded with his last strength grip his friend's hand and say:

"See you around, Hakkai…"

His blood red eyes slipped close. One last drop of red liquid separated itself from his bloodied lips and fell onto the ground, to join hundreds of others. Hakkai pushed healing qi into his friend, desperately, but it was too late. Gojyo took one shuddering breath, one more… then nothing. His heart beat slower for each passing moment, as he was too tired to grasp the flare of life.

A man stood in front of him. Gojyo looked around. He was… somewhere. It was light and shining. He looked back at the man. The man looked a lot like himself. There were a few differences though. Pale instead of tanned, black instead of bright red and sapphire instead of ruby. The man was holding a cigarette between his bony fingers, brought it up to take a breath. Smoke out, making Gojyo blink. Where was he?

"You really got yourself in trouble now," the man said, taking another breath.

"Who are you?" the hanyou asked.

"I'm you," the man said. "You in original form."

"Hah?"

"I'm the original soul," the blue-eyed man said with a sigh before he tapped Gojyo's head. "I know you got a brain in there, kiddo. Name's Kenren."

"Explain."

"Only the original soul and the current soul is in the same body," Kenren said. "I am your original, and you are the current soul. Though you're now dying."

"Can't we do something about it?" Gojyo said.

"Nope. Your heart just stopped."

-

"GOJYO!"

* * *

Tbc…

Tell me what you think of it.

Next chapter: Gojyo's funeral, and the awakening of his orignal soul.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	2. Chapter 2

**Sha Gojyo / Kenren Taichou **

**Summary**: Two souls within one body. One dies, and so the other must resurface.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Blood and some violence.

Kenren is out of character, since I have other plans for him.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Saiyuki in any way.

Saiyuki fic. Haven't written many of them so I'll hope you'll still enjoy this.

Another thing; I don't know how Saiyuki Gaiden ends, or how they die so I'll make it up how they died.

-

**Chapter One**

Kanzeon Bosatsu watched the death with grave eyes. This was something she had hoped would never come, fo either of them. Somehow it was harder knowing it was Gojyo, that it was _him_. She knew they had another chance, and she could provide with another way. But she needed to convince the other gods for that. She knew the Sanzo group would need all help they could get; they just had to accept it.

-

Kougaiji never thought he was going to spend his time with the Sanzo group and fight alongside them. But here he was, fighting with them. And now grieving with them.

There had been a fight, and they all got separated. Afterwards they sought each other out. Only Hakkai and Gojyo had been missing when they had heard the human turned youkai screaming his friend's name. They had all rushed to the voice to see what had happened. They had found Hakkai crying over the dead body of Gojyo.

The redhead had a small smile on his face, blood splattered onto the ground around him. The deep wounds on his chest and abdomen made Dokugakuji throw up. The child he had saved from a death had died far too early accordnig to him. Hakkai had to be dragged off the hanyou by Sanzo and Goku. Kougaiji had looked at the hanyou with sadness in his eyes. Gojyo was young, and full of life. He made even Yaone laugh in the midst of all sorrow. He was strong enough to make youkais shudder in fear. And now the redhead was gone.

They held a simple funeral, but did not bury his body. Not until later, when they had more time. They had put his body, cleaned of all blood and his wounds wrapped up, in a coffin of stone. Hakkai had stopped smiling altogether after the funeral; he did not found the energy to fake one. Sanzo smoked like a chimney and Goku was too silent.

Dokugakuji had stopped smiling as well. He was found sitting by Gojyo's stone coffin, not crying, not smiling, not talking, not… not doing anything. He just sat there.

"We have to move," Yaone said quietly. "We have to defeat them before we can properly mourn."

"Easy for you to say," Sanzo snapped. "You didn't know him. Like hell Hakkai's going to do anything else but sit there."

"Such strong words, Sanzo."

The voice made them all whip around. The priest dragged out his gun and said:

"Give me one reason not to kill you, hag."

"You'll only be wasting bullets, boy," Kanzeon said, her arms crossed as she stepped forward.

"What do you want now?" the blonde man asked.

"You lost a friend," Kanzeon replied, "but Yaone is right. You can't just stop."

"Fuck you," Sanzo said. "We can't defeat him."

"Since when did you ever give up so easily? I can give you one who can help you," the goddess said. "But to do that you have to give up Gojyo's body."

She dodged the expected bullet and continued:

"You always said you didn't care about him, Sanzo. Does it matter to you what happens to his body?"

"Fuck you, you old hag, and leave us alone."

"I asked for permission from the other gods even to do this. You won't know him, but he can help you revenge Gojyo."

"Who is it?" Goku asked.

"I can't tell until it's done. If Sanzo gets his will through, you'll never know who I'm speaking about."

"Just leave us alone!" Lirin shouted. "You don't know how it feels to lose someone!"

"I lost my nephew," the goddess said and they stopped to look at her. "Yes, my nephew. I lost him along with two good friends at the same time. They were killed in a brutal and wrong way, just like you lost Gojyo."

"Let her," they heard a voice say, and they all turned to look at Hakkai. He looked tired, but his eye was filled with something akin to acceptance. "Gojyo would have been happy if he knew he could help even after death."

"I thank you for understanding what I am saying, Hakkai-san," Kanzeon said.

"Do whatever the hell you want!" Sanzo shouted. "Like the hell I care!"

He stalked off to their tent and disappeared into it. Goku ran after him. Hakkai smiled apologetically, although strained, to her before turning to look at the coffin. The goddess walked past the group of youkai and they followed out of curiosity. She stopped when she had reached the coffin, and took a deep breath. She smiled to Hakkai in a reassuring way and traced the cold stone with her fingers. She did that for a few moments and seemed to think of what to do. Then she slowly slid the lid off. It fell to the ground with a thud, but she concentrated on the face of the dead hanyou. So like and yet so unlike.

She stroke away the red hair from the face, tracing the two scars before she closed her eyes. Her hand settled on his forehead, fingers spread out like claws on his skull. The palm pressed against the smooth skin of his forehead, and she began speaking.

It was a guttural sound, and no one of them had heard it before. Sanzo and Goku must have heard because they came out from the tent and walked to them. She continued to chant, and opened her eyes. They were glowing and she began to speak in human tongue so they understood:

"The soul of the red child may be lost, but the man of the blackened sky still remains. Arise once more, brave warrior, killer of the beasts. Raise your weapon, kill your enemies, all in the name of a boy you died for. Rise, Kenren Taichou of the Western Army!"

Gojyo's eyes snapped open, but they were not red. They were a deep blue. Everyone backed away, while Kanzeon slowly removed her hand. She stepped back a few steps and tanned hands gripped the sides of the coffin. Gojyo, or whoever it was, heaved himself up. The blood slowly seeped out from the wounds before they started to close. The joints in the body cracked after have been lying still for several days and Gojyo's body was finally stretched out. Then the blue eyes widened and the changes began. From the roots of his hair, black came up and the hair was cut off quite suddenly. The hair stopped in spikes and a bit wild. The twin-scars disappeared and leaved behind smooth skin. The tanned skin became pale, and the clothes changed as well. From Gojyo's shirt and jeans to a uniform in black with a skull on his chest. The man stared up in the sky, unaware of the people who all were staring at him.

"Kenren," Kanzeon whispered.

"Did you know him?" Goku asked.

"Yes," the goddess said. "Cocky bastard, but a nice one. No one knew we were friends, and no one knew who he really was."

Kenren stared at his hands in shock before turning to the goddess. A mark appeared on his forehead, and Sanzo could not help but utter:

"The mark of a god."

"Yes," Kanzeon said. "He was a god. A god the heaven brutally murdered."

The god stepped out from the coffin, slowly, still in a daze.

"You got what you wanted, Kenren," the goddess said quietly, making him snap his head towards her. "You're on earth, far away from everything you hate."

"It may be so," Kenren spoke, and they all noticed how different he sounded from Gojyo. "I may be free, but being free does not mean you are not alone."

Another thing that separated him from Gojyo; his voice was totally and utterly lifeless. Like he did not care if he was alive or not.

"They are still with you," Kanzeon said, "in your heart."

Kenren looked at her, his sapphire eyes growing colder. In a quiet but dangerous voice he said:

"What heart? You of all people should not I don't have a heart."

"Liar," Kanzeon said. "You have a heart; you just need to find it again."

Tbc…

* * *

Chapter one done! Goes slow, but steady.

Chapter two: Kenren really is a strange fellow. They get to know him and his strange mood-swings, before Sanzo tires of him and tries to get rid of him. He did not choose the best method for that though. Don't know when you should expect this chapter. Sometime next week maybe?

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	3. Chapter 3

**Sha Gojyo / Kenren Taichou **

**Summary**: Two souls within one body. One dies, and so the other must resurface.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Blood and some violence.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Saiyuki in any way.

Saiyuki fic. Haven't written many of them so I'll hope you'll still enjoy this.

-

**Chapter**** Two**

Goku was the first who dared talking to Kenren after the goddess had left. They had given him a free space around Gojyo's coffin and that was where the man had seated himself and after that, nothing. They were quite disturbed over his shifts in his temper and stayed clear of him.

But as usual, curiosity got the better of Goku and he stepped closer. The black-haired man still seemed somewhat in a daze, but noticed the boy getting closer. Their eyes met and Goku stopped. Kenren's blue eyes were quite difficult to read, so the brown-haired boy had no idea what he was thinking off.

"Are you really a god?" Goku finally dared to ask.

Kenren looked at him for a long time and then said:

"I was. I don't know now."

"You don't know?"

"Nope," the man said. "I don't feel different though from when I was a god. Why do you ask?"

"Because it would be cool!"

"Kanzeon is a goddess."

"Yeah, but Sanzo's always mad at her."

"Is that so?" Kenren said, his lips forming into a lopsided smile. "Well, she can be a pain."

Goku smiled as well.

"We're going to continue!" Hakkai called out to them.

"Oh, okay!" Goku yelled. He turned back to Kenren and said: "Well, come on. Sanzo's gonna be pissed and Hakkai will be all quiet but that's not because of you."

Kenren's eyebrows shot up.

"Alright, maybe a little because of you…"

"That's alright. I would be a bit pissed off as well if a goddess shows up and uses a companion's body to get a god back to life."

Kenren rose up and followed the boy back to where Jeep was waiting, Hakkai and Sanzo already seated. Kougaiji, Dokugakuji, Yaone and Lirin were seated on their dragons, waiting for the Sanzo-ikkou to move before following.

Kenren sat down where Gojyo usually sat and they were off.

-

They noted that Kenren was not much up for talking; instead he spent his time staring at the environment. Goku was also quiet, and Sanzo worked himself through cigarette after cigarette. Kenren noticed something was lying just next to him, and picked up Gojyo's pack of cigarettes. Goku noticed and swallowed against the tears that wanted to well up.

"Is that Gojyo's?" Hakkai asked. "Sorry, I forgot to put them away."

"Is it okay if I take one?" Kenren asked. "Haven't had a smoke in 500 years."

"Go ahead," Hakkai said. "It's not like anyone else is going to smoke them."

Kenren plucked one out and put in his mouth. He found no lighter and sighed. He stretched one finger up and suddenly fire came up from the tip. Goku gaped. He lighted the cigarette and muttered:

"Damn, I use my powers to light a cigarette. Man, this sucks."

"You can use fire?!" Goku said with wide eyes and Kenren looked over at him. Neither seemed to notice Goku's hands on Kenren's knees.

"Yeah, more or less," the man said with a shrug. "They didn't really like when I used them while working, but who the fuck cares now?"

"They who?"

"The holy-fucking gods who think they are something," Kenren said with a slight grin. He took a deep drag of the cigarette and continued: "These are good."

"Gojyo loved them," Goku said quietly.

"Well, I like them as well. This Gojyo had good taste." Kenren leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Goku was struck of how similar Gojyo and Kenren acted at that moment.

Hakkai's hands tightened on the steering-wheel. Sanzo looked away.

-

Dokugakuji was not much of a drinker, and yet he found himself sitting in a clearing with a jug of sake next to him. The rest of the group was by a river not far away. The youkai sighed and drained his cup.

"Drinking alone? That's depressing."

He turned around to look at Kenren. The man was leaning against a tree, and Dokugakuji wondered how the man had succeeded sneaking up on him. He decided not to wonder so much and said:

"Why don't you join me then, and it'll be less depressing?"

"That's the spirit," Kenren replied and walked forth to him. He sat down, cross-legged, and accepted the cup Dokugakuji gave to him. He threw his head back and downed the first cup. The youkai raised his eyebrows. Kenren shrugged, and let the man pour another one.

"You drank much?" Dokugakuji asked.

"It happened," Kenren said. "In heaven, sakura blossoms never ceased to bloom, and that's where everyone could find me."

"Surrounded by the sakura blossoms?"

"Yeah," the god said. "They were beautiful, and I had a good spot where it would take people hours before they found me. Me, the trees and sake. That was life."

Dokugakuji shook his head but held up the cup and said:

"Shall we toast for sakura blossoms then?"

"Hell yeah. For sakura blossoms."

They downed their cups. Kenren chuckled and said:

"We're toasting for sakura blossoms."

"That's pathetic," Dokugakuji agreed.

"Well, pathetic or not, let's toast again."

-

Kougaiji looked around and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Hakkai asked.

"Where's Dokugakuji?" the youkai asked.

"He walked into the forest," Lirin supplied. "Said he wanted to be alone."

"Kenren is gone as well," Goku said.

"Well, they better show up before we leave in the morning," Kougaiji muttered.

-

Hakkai woke up in the middle of the night of seeing Kenren dragging a semi-drunk Dokugakuji with him. The sight was slightly funny as Dokugakuji was bigger than the god; Kenren almost looked tiny compared to the youkai when he was hunched over like that. Hakkai stayed still so he would not alert the black-haired man.

"Sheesh, can't you hold your liquid, boy?" Kenren wheezed. "Man, you're heavy!"

The god lowered the youkai down onto a few blankets and let out a sigh of relief while rubbing his back. He found another blanket and spread it over the bigger man. He then looked around and found a pot. He looked in it and placed it next to Dokugakuji.

"Hey, Doku?" Kenren said, gently poking the big youkai.

"Mmm?"

"A pot next to your head. You can't miss it if you feel sick."

The youkai grunted and fell asleep again. Kenren straightened up and did not notice the brunette watching him. He looked up at the stairs and popped his spine.

He then went to the river-bank and Hakkai heard him sit down. A flick of light, an intake of breath. Ah, the god was smoking.

"This sucks," Kenren said to no one. "He doesn't even fucking know who I am."

The human turned youkai frowned.

'Who?' Hakkai wondered.

-

The human turned youkai awoke before everyone else as usual. He went up and saw Dokugakuji had indeed used the pot. He shook his head, took a new pot and went to the river to get some water.

Kenren was asleep. Hakkai crunched down not far from the god and filled the pot with water. The man had removed his black uniform and used it to lie on. Which meant he was naked from waist up. He had not bothered removing his heavy boots or combat-pants. He used his folded arms as a pillow and was lying on his stomach.

Hakkai could not help but look at the naked back. The skin was smooth and untouched. Hakkai reached out and touched the skin lightly. It was warm, not cold as Gojyo's had been on that fateful day.

Kenren stirred and Hakkai moved back. He picked the pot up as the god blinked his blue eyes open. He peered up at the brunette who gave a fake smile and said:

"Good morning. I was about to make breakfast."

"You know," Kenren said as he sat up on his knees. "If you don't have a real smile then don't smile at all. It doesn't look good on you."

Hakkai froze. Kenren tugged the uniform on and continued:

"I've seen my fair share of fake smiles, and I ended up hating every one of them who smiled that way. But I don't feel like hating you, so don't smile like that to me. Hate me for all you want; I knew I would feel dislike to someone who stole my best friend's body."

"Kenren-san…"

"Kenren is just fine. I didn't come here to be respected," the god said and looked at Hakkai. His blue eyes were distant and Hakkai felt ashamed for having made them like that.

"I'm sorry," Hakkai said and he meant it.

"Don't worry about it," Kenren said and the distant look disappeared. "Now, you said something about breakfast? Good, I'm fucking starved here!"

Hakkai could hear Gojyo in his voice, but found himself not having something against it. He smiled again, and it was real.

"What did I say?" Kenren asked.

"You sounded like Gojyo," Hakkai said.

"That's good or bad?"

"It's okay," the brunette said. "I don't mind. Do you like rice?"

-

"Onii-chan, Dokugakuji is drunk!"

Kougaiji looked up and then whipped around to see for himself, just to see the brown-haired youkai throw up. He frowned and made ready to go to him. But a glass was held out towards Dokugakuji together with a pill. The youkai looked up and Kenren said:

"It's for the headache."

"Thanks," Dokugakuji said and accepted the items as Kougaiji looked on. "Did you carry me back?"

"You're heavy," Kenren supplied, "but yeah, I did."

"Thanks for that as well then."

"It's nothing. I wasn't about to let a kid freeze to death."

"Kid?"

"Yeah, you're nothing but an infant to me."

"Geeh, thanks."

Kenren smirked and straightened up. Sanzo looked sullen and finally said:

"We're leaving."

They sighed but knew better than to argue. Kenren did not complain either; he just shrugged and helped Hakkai packing the Jeep. Sanzo had already seated himself and ignored everyone. Dokugakuji groaned and Kougaiji said:

"You're sitting with me today, Dokugakuji."

"Yes sir," the youkai muttered and staggered up.

"How much did you drink?" the redheaded youkai asked.

"Dunno… Kenren drank a lot more than me though."

"Are you kidding me?" Kougaiji said and looked over at Kenren. "It looks like he's hyper-healthy."

"Tell me about it."

-

It took Sanzo a few days to snap. One day he had enough though, and pointed the gun for the first time against Kenren.

"Sanzo!" Goku said. "Come on, put it away!"

"Shut up monkey," the priest said and turned back to the god. "You've been here for a few days and shown nothing of what you can do. I won't put up with it, so get out of here."

"Sanzo!" Kougaiji exclaimed but froze as Kenren said coldly:

"Point that gun of yours in another direction, or I'll relieve you from your earthen suffering by killing you."

Sanzo froze for a moment. A moment was all Kenren needed. He was up from the ground, twisted Sanzo's arm and plucked the gun from the man. Within a moment, Sanzo had it pointed against his own head. The blonde stared. The rest did so as well. Kenren did not smile or move when he said:

"How does it feel now feeling what everyone else feel when you point this at them?"

After a few minutes of the two men, one human and one god, one priest and one atheist (strange, considering Kenren WAS a god himself but no one dared saying against him), Kenren and Sanzo seemed to come to an understanding. Kenren handed the gun back, Sanzo took it and then they just left. Kenren down to the riverbank, Sanzo into the forest. Not a word had been said, though it looked like the two of them had talked for hours.

The same thought went through everyone's minds:

'What the hell did just happen?'

Tbc…

* * *

Phew, finally done. Bit different than I thought it would be, but ain't complaining.

Chapter three: Kenren needs a weapon. He wants his old one. Of course Kanzeon will give him that. Practising is in order!

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	4. Chapter 4

**Sha Gojyo / Kenren Taichou **

**Summary**: Two souls within one body. One dies, and so the other must resurface.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Blood and some violence.

People out of character in this story.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Saiyuki in any way.

Saiyuki fic. Haven't written many of them so I'll hope you'll still enjoy this.

Don't know how they died in Saiyuki Gaiden, so I'm making it up. And my version is painful and gory.

-

**Chapter**** Three**

"Kenren, do you use any weapons?"

Kenren looked over at Goku in slight surprise and looked up in the sky for a while, thinking.

"I had a gun," he offered after a while, enjoying the breeze. They were seated by the road, eating lunch in a circle. "I couldn't exactly do wonders with it at first, but I was better than others. Tenpou for an example had a useless katana. How the hell can you kill anything fast with a katana unless you got some weird-ass skill?"

"Tenpou?" Sanzo surprisingly enough asked.

"My superior," Kenren replied, taking a deep breath of smoke. "He would like these smokes as well, the snappish bastard."

"Did you like him?" the brunette asked, golden eyes glittering happily.

Uncomfortable shift as Kenren stared into those eyes, then a shrug and he said:

"He was okay. Didn't hate me like most of the others did."

"Why would they hate you?" Hakkai asked.

"I got youkai-powers," the blue-eyed man replied. "That ain't appreciated in the hell-hole you call heaven."

"Oh…" Goku said.

"Anyway… I could have use of a gun now actually," the man said thoughtfully.

"Why don't you get one?"

"Problem is I don't do well without my own gun."

"Your own?" Goku asked.

"Never failed me in 400 years; not gonna give up on it yet."

Goku made round eyes. Lirin heard it as well and came up to them as Goku was seated next to Kenren and she was on the opposite side.

"Where is your gun?" she asked with wide child-liked eyes. "I want to see it!"

"Heh, I dropped it."

"Dropped it where?"

"Somewhere up there," Kenren said and jerked a finger upwards to the sky.

"Why did you drop it?" Lirin asked with a pout.

"Well, I guess not even you could hold a gun when you're pumped with bullets," Kenren said with a shrug.

The two of them stared at the god.

"You were killed that way?" Lirin finally asked quietly while the rest of the group had stopped pretending that they did not listen.

"Nah, a few round of bullets in my body wasn't enough," Kenren said. "You really wanna know how they did it?"

"I think so," Lirin said. "I've heard pretty bad deaths, so I don't know if yours gonna be any worse."

The god looked up at Kougaiji and he said:

"If she wants to hear, tell her."

The black-haired man looked down at her again, and sighed.

"My body was too stubborn to die," Kenren started, looking at the youkai-girl. "Bullets didn't do the trick, burning me didn't do the trick. Tenpou died once they shot 'im in the head; can't blame the man for that though."

Sanzo drew closer, fascinated yet disgusted about the way he described one of his best friend's deaths. The words were pretty heartless, but the bright shine in Kenren's eyes told the priest another story. Hakkai closed his eyes and tried to will the image out of his head. Yaone put one hand over her mouth, putting down her food onto the ground. Kougaiji and Dokugakuji looked at Kenren silently.

"Konzen; they had to chop his head off," the black-haired man said and stared up at the clouds. "All the while cursing heaven, makin' Kanzeon cringe at her nephew's words."

"Konzen…" Goku said slowly. "Konzen was Kanzeon's nephew?"

"One and only," the god replied. "Anyways… then it was only me left."

Lirin was clutching his uniform without really being aware of it. Yaone had come forth and was holding Lirin's shoulders tightly, her eyes sad. Hakkai heard his heart beat fast in his chest. His hands clutched the bag-back he had been looking in after he had abandoned his food. Kougaiji and Dokugakuji had gotten up and just looked at the man, wanting him to finish yet not wanting to hear any of it.

"How did they…?" Goku asked, not daring to speak out the last of the question.

"It's blurry," Kenren admitted. "I think… I think they cut me to pieces before leaving me to rot."

Lirin repeated the words for herself while staring.

"Gods did that?" Kougaiji got out. "Gods who doesn't kill murdered you in that horrible way?!"

"I was a traitor," Kenren said with a shrug.

"A traitor?" Sanzo asked.

"Tried to protect someone that didn't belong in heaven," the god said and looked at them briefly before turning back to he clouds. "We tried to run, but they caught us a few metres away from freedom. We wanted to this world… hell, we would've even accepted being mortals just so we could live freely. But they caught us, they killed us, and they don't give a shit as long as they fucked-up paradise never changes."

-

The night fell upon them and they stopped for setting up camp. Kenren helped Hakkai with the food as the others put the tents up. They had all been rather silent after Kenren's tale and the god had not been smiling quite as much as before.

They ate their supper in silence and went to bed after that. Everyone except for one of the whole group.

Kenren stared up at the star-filled sky when he heard a branch break. He rose up gracefully and quickly made his way to the noise. He exhaled when he saw who it was, stepped up behind the intruder and said:

"Grace, Kanzeon, grace."

The goddess jumped and whipped around, her hair flying. He chuckled at the sight and took a deep inhale of the cigarette before releasing it into her face. Kanzeon coughed into her palm and hissed:

"Don't do that!"

"Well, why do I get a visit from you, little girl?"

"Will you stop with that nickname?" Kanzeon asked as she sat down on a rock, Kenren following. "It's not like it used to be."

"Oh, but soon I maybe have to become who I used to be."

"The one you used to be 5000 years ago," the goddess said. "That's a long time ago."

"Well, you never know," Kenren said and sat down in front of her. "They would really get nuts, you know?"

"Everyone else in heaven if they knew who you were? Sure; they would get furious and soon I would be running for my life."

"Killing me, Tenpou and Konzen didn't matter but you do; you are too important. They can't kill you, not even if they are commanded to."

"Liar," she said.

"Not lying. I know the laws, Kanzeon; I was there when they were written. Now your point of visiting? Not for chatting, I know that."

"I got a gift for you, oh holy captain."

"Haven't been holy for a few thousand years," Kenren said with a sniff. "What kind of gift?"

Kanzeon pulled it up from a bag, and his eyes widened.

"Took me some time to find it," she admitted as she let the god take the gun from her hands. "But when I did find it, I took it. It's been with me for the last 300 years."

"Took you 200 years to find it?"

"I started to look 90 years after you died," she said. "So only 110 years."

"Who was hiding it?"

"Who wasn't hiding it? They couldn't make it work and stashed it away one after another."

Kenren looked at it with a grin slowly spreading onto his face. Kanzeon stood up and vanished with a small "Have fun".

The grin grew larger. Oh yes, he was going to have fun.

-

The group woke up to hear gunshots. Sanzo sat up quickly and felt around. His gun was still where he had left it.

"Is it the enemy?" Kougaiji asked as he stood up.

"They've never used guns before," Sanzo said as he rose up as well.

"Hey," Lirin said, "where's Kenren?"

They all looked around; the god was nowhere to be seen. The gunshots stopped and they looked at each other. Suddenly Kenren came walking and looked at them.

"Hi," he said. "Did I wake you up?"

"What?" Dokugakuji said.

"Hey, you got a gun!" Goku exclaimed.

Sure enough, there was a gun hanging from his belt. Sanzo stared at it. It had a larger barrel than his own, and was jet black with silver script.

"Whose gun is it?" Lirin asked.

"Mine," Kenren said.

"Eeh?? Didn't you say you dropped it?!" Lirin said.

"Yeah, but a nice girl like yourself made it drop into my head yesterday."

"No way!" Goku and Lirin exclaimed.

"Yes way. You want to see the bruise it left behind?"

The two stared at him while he got it up and held it up in front of them. Like two children, they gathered around it and looked at the gun in fascination.

"No bullets in it, so you can touch it," Kenren said and let Lirin take it.

"Who's stupid enough to shoot when they don't know how to handle a gun?" Goku asked.

"A brat I knew did, and scared his guardian shitless," the black-haired man replied with a cheeky smile. "Man, my ears were sore after the guy had stopped yelling at me."

"There were children in heaven?" Lirin asked.

Kenren hesitated. He looked at her and said:

"Not many. A few, but I never saw them up-close. The child I learned to know was from Earth."

"From Earth?" Goku said and tilted his head.

Kenren swallowed, hard but then got up a grin and continued:

"Yep, he was a trouble-maker all along. His guardian was running up the walls of frustration."

"And you?" Lirin asked, interested.

"Me? Like a brat can wear me out!"

"We'll see!" the two shouted.

-

"Well, what do you say now?" Hakkai asked.

"Kidding. Brats can wear me out," Kenren panted. "But damn, they're fast."

Hakkai chuckled at the god lying on the ground. The man got up and made sure his gun was still on place before he took off his uniform. He shook it and then shrugged it on but did not close it. He wiped his brow and accepted the bottle of water the human turned youkai gave him. Sanzo sat on a rock and was watching them.

"How good are you with the gun?" he suddenly asked the god.

"Pretty good," Kenren replied. "And you?"

"I only miss if I want to."

"Is that a challenge I hear?"

"Maybe," the human priest said.

"Sanzo and Kenren are gonna have a contest?!" Goku shouted. "I wanna see that!"

"Monkey," Sanzo muttered. "Che, fine if the brat wants it."

"I'm not a brat!" Goku protested.

Kenren smiled and gave the bottle to Hakkai.

"What is the challenge?" he asked.

"Who can shoot the fastest and who can hit the best?"

"Are you already gambling?" Kougaiji asked.

"What are we going to use?"

Sanzo took up two coins and said:

"Can you hit it while it's in the air?"

"Peace of cake," Kenren said.

"We'll see. Dokugakuji will you throw them up? I'm first."

"Be my guest," the god said and let Sanzo prepare.

"Throw it!" Sanzo shouted after a few moments.

Dokugakuji threw it right up in the air and Sanzo took aim and shot. The coin fell down a few moments after that and Goku ran to check.

"In the middle!" Goku cried out. "That's Sanzo!"

"Alright, my turn," Kenren said. "Throw it."

Dokugakuji did the same kind of throw like with Sanzo and Kenren took up the gun, aimed and shot four times. He then held out a hand and the coin fell down in his palm. He took a drag of his cigarette and said:

"Damn, I missed one time."

"Lemme see!" Lirin said and ran forward.

She took the coin from him and stared at it.

"What is it?" Goku asked.

"It's got three holes," she said and showed it. Meanwhile Kenren muttered about bad aim and tried to gun.

"Where's the bullets?" Sanzo asked.

"Bullets? This ain't a normal gun, Sanzo. I make the bullets."

"How?" Hakkai asked.

"Like this."

He held the gun ready and it started to glow softly. It stopped after a few seconds and he said:

"There, loaded."

"You make them with your energy," Hakkai said.

"Yep. This baby was designed for me only, so the other gods were pissed off when they couldn't use it."

Sanzo looked at the coin and said:

"Why were you saying you had a bad aim?"

"Well, I missed once."

Sanzo stared. Kenren shrugged and said:

"What? I'm picky."

'No kidding,' the rest thought.

Tbc…

* * *

Chapter three done, FINALLY. Sorry if there are any grammar errors; didn't check through it.

Chapter four: Fighting! Now we'll see how well Kenren does in a fight with some thirty or forty youkais who has only one goal with the Sanzo ikkou; Kill!Kill!Kill!

Until later,

Ja.

Tiro


	5. Chapter 5

**Sha Gojyo / Kenren Taichou **

**Summary**: Two souls within one body. One dies, and so the other must resurface.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Blood and some violence.

People out of character in this story.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Saiyuki in any way.

Saiyuki fic. Haven't written many of them so I'll hope you'll still enjoy this.

-

**Chapter**** Five**

Kenren was dozing off and left Goku to look at him. Sanzo and Hakkai were quiet in the front seats as the human turned youkai drove. Goku had wrapped his arms around his knees and had tilted his head. Kenren had fallen asleep with his head propped up on one hand and a cigarette dangling in his mouth, threatening to fall and burn the man's thigh. Goku had carefully taken it out and thrown it away. The god had not noticed.

"How can he stand being in black leather-clothes?" Goku finally asked the other two.

"Che, why even bother asking us?" Sanzo said. "Ask him."

"But he's asleep."

"Ask him when he wakes up and shut up," the priest said and continued to stare at the road.

Goku turned back and rested his chin against his forearm. The god had though left his uniform jacket open, revealing a thin but hard chest. Goku wondered why he was not having at least a shirt underneath.

Blue eyes blinked drowsily and the man yawned as he woke up. He cracked his head just like Gojyo used to do and Goku found himself blinking back tears. Since Kenren had joined them, they seemed to have stopped thinking about the redheaded man. The brown-haired boy found himself feeling guilty for it.

One boot suddenly came on his side and he looked up to see Kenren stretch his leg, one at the time. Goku turned back to watch the boots. They went to Kenren's knees and were black as the rest of the god's clothing.

"Isn't that hot?" Goku finally asked him. "I mean, bein' dressed in black all day."

"It can be a bit uncomfortable at times," Kenren confessed and stretched the other leg. "Man, this space is tiny."

"We should reach a town before nightfall," Hakkai said. "Kougaiji and the others will put on their limiters before we head into the town."

"Alright," the black-haired man and brought his legs back to the cross-legged position he had before stretching them.

-

"Yaone and Lirin will share one room, Kougaiji and Sanzo another, me and Goku and finally you and Dokugakuji, okay?" Hakkai said as he gave a key to Kenren.

"Sure," the god replied and took the offered item. "What are we going to do while they prepare dinner for us?"

"What you want," Hakkai said. "I'm going to plan tomorrow's shopping before we move on."

Kenren waved absently as he went upstairs. He unlocked his and Dokugakuji's room and stepped inside. He kicked off his boots and threw himself on one of the beds with a content sigh. He thought if he should move before deciding he was far too lazy. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

-

"You missed dinner, Kenren!"

The loud knock and accompanying voice made Kenren shoot his head up from the bed. He groaned and gracelessly fell down onto the ground when he rolled over. He stumbled up and opened the door to see Goku with a tray.

"I brought some up to you," the boy said happily.

"Why thank you," the god said and waved him in. "Ugh, sleeping in this coat maybe isn't the best idea I ever came up with…"

He shrugged it off and threw it on the bed. Goku could not help but stare at the untouched pale skin in awe. The muscles worked as Kenren walked. He sat down cross-legged onto the bed and picked up his chop-sticks since he had taken the tray from the boy's hands without the boy noticing. Goku shook himself out of it and bounced onto the bed with a laugh.

"So, why didn't ya show up for dinner?" he asked.

"I fell asleep."

"What?! You missed dinner because you fell asleep?!"

"Yes," Kenren said, amused. "What? Is that strange?"

"Strange?? It's abnormal! Food is important!"

Kenren chuckled as Goku continued to rant.

-

Dokugakuji came into the room around midnight and saw the god was already asleep. Hakkai must either had shopped for him or given him some spare clothes because Kenren was wearing a white tank-top and a pair of jeans instead of his uniform. The youkai watched the god for a while before going over and tugging the sheets up around the man's shoulders. Then he turned to go to his own bed.

-

Lirin and Goku were awake first of the whole group, and tip-toed to Kenren's and Dokugakuji's room. They opened it slowly, silently whooping of joy that Dokugakuji forgot to lock it, and peered inside. Both were asleep.

They were both curious about Kenren, even if he had spent several days with them already. They walked up to the bed where the god lay. He had during the night flipped over to his stomach and his black hair was tousled. His breaths were deep and even and his body relaxed. They leaned in closer.

Blue eyes snapped open, making them fall backwards in surprise. Kenren blinked and looked down at the two children.

"What are you doing?" he asked with his head cocked to the side.

"You were awake??" Goku whispered.

"Kinda. What, is it already morning?"

"It's seven in the morning," Goku said.

"Why are you guys up then?"

"We just wanted to see you," Lirin said.

One of the black eyebrows shot up.

"That's all?" he asked. When they nodded, he fell back onto the bed and said: "Well, you've seen me. Now I'm going back to sleep."

"What?" they nearly shouted. "No fair!"

-

They were up and moving around nine. Kenren got his clothes on and packed away the top and jeans in one of the bags Hakkai had already put into the jeep. They left shortly after that.

"Kenren, what's life in heaven like?"

The god looked at Goku and thought for a while. Then he replied:

"Boring."

"Boring? That's it?"

"Pretty much," Kenren said. "It feels like one minute is one year up there; everything goes so slow and nothing ever happens. And if things do happen, they are either boring or life-or-death situations."

"Life-or-death situations?"

"Only happened me once. I died. Figured; I always loose in games so why not in reality too?" Kenren said with a bitter laugh. "Anyway, ain't upset about that anymore."

"You're not?"

"Sure, it was too bad we died but what the hell can ya do? Right now I can happily stick out my tongue to those bastards and they'll see they can't get rid of my sorry ass!"

Goku was a bit unnerved by the big grin he had on his face, but Kenren just patted his head and said:

"What's up with the sober face?"

"You're joking so easily about your own life."

"A life that ended 500 years ago," the god said. "Can't live in the past all the time."

"Well, that's true," the boy said.

"Alright, so let's ignore it!"

"Don't sound so happy about it…"

-

They stopped for the day when suddenly Kenren snapped his head up and looked towards the woods not so far away. They were about to ask what was wrong when they felt it as well.

"Demons," Goku said.

"They don't give up," Sanzo growled. "I knew this week had been too good anyway. Kenren, you better be ready."

The god got up his gun and it began to glow slightly. His whole demeanour changed within a few moments; his body eased into a fighting-stance, his eyes hardened and his mouth was a thin line. The Kougaiji group swallowed; it was always hard fighting against people that had not long ago worshipped them.

The first demons came but before Sanzo had gotten the chance to shoot six shoots had already been fired. They all snapped their heads to Kenren who was already reloading, his eyes empty and his movements automatic. It was going to be their first time looking at Kenren when he fought in battle.

The demons recovered quickly and they ran towards them with their weapons raised. It was then they spotted the guns.

"They have guns!" Lirin shouted out the obvious.

"Not only that!" Yaone said. "They have summon scrolls!"

The god looked at them all and saw Kougaiji prepared a summoning. He put the gun back and stretched out a hand. Goku looked on as black flames erupted from his hand and travelled along his arm. He leaned back for the slightest moment before running forward, his coat falling to the ground as the flames travelled up his other arm. They all stared as he ran towards the horde of demons alone until Hakkai got a sense and ran after. Dokugakuji followed, and Sanzo took an aim. Goku summoned his weapon, Lirin readied herself, Yaone took up her spear and Kougaiji continued to summon.

Kenren slashed his hands and the fire shot out from the tips of his fingers. He twisted once a demon reached him and hit the man in the back of the neck. The demon screamed in pain as the black flame burst out on his back. He died a few seconds later.

An elderly demon looked at the flames and screamed:

"Fall back! Fall back!"

"Why?" another demon screamed.

"Those flames!" the elder demon screamed out, his eyes filled with horror. "It's him, it's him! It's the living demon from Heaven! It's Kenren!"

Kenren looked up at the demon and straightened up. In that moment, he looked like a demon; his eyes wild, his hair standing up and his skin white. His ears had become slightly pointed and his teeth slightly sharper. He walked towards the demon that now screamed out in terror and tried to get away. Kenren trusted the others to take care of anyone who tried to attack him from behind.

The living demon from Heaven… demons sure knew how to pick nicknames.

Tbc…

* * *

Finally, FINALLY, I found some goddam INSPIRATION! This laziness is not good for my brains.

Alright, let's see what next chapter is: Hopefully some more fighting, more interaction between the characters and closing in towards India and their final destination.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	6. Chapter 6

**Sha Gojyo / Kenren Taichou **

**Summary**: Two souls within one body. One dies, and so the other must resurface.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Blood and some violence.

People out of character in this story.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Saiyuki in any way.

Saiyuki fic. Haven't written many of them so I'll hope you'll still enjoy this.

-

**Chapter**** Five**

When all the demons were finished off, the group turned to stare at Kenren. The god was just picking up his uniform when he noticed their staring. He looked up at them and blinked.

"What?" he asked.

"Living demon from Heaven?" Kougaiji asked back.

"Dunno what's up with their obsession with nick-naming but yeah, that was one of my nicknames before," Kenren said. "I had a lot of them."

"But why demon?" the red-haired demon continued.

"Because of my flames," the god said, shrugging the uniform back on. "My flames are from a demon."

"But you aren't a demon?"

"Ain't a half-blood as far as I know, but who knows?"

"You don't know if you're a half-blood or not?" Lirin asked.

"I don't know who my parents were, so I can't tell for sure," Kenren said, frowning. "They said my mother was a goddess and very strict, so I can't imagine her having a fling with a demon."

"You're weird," Lirin concluded.

"Lirin-sama!" Yaone said but Kenren laughed. He looked at the demon-girl and said:

"You really know how to be rude without making it look like it?"

She just smiled evilly, sending the god into another fit of laughter.

-

They camped outside that night, huddled close together in case of an attack. Lirin had fallen asleep leaning against her brother, and Kougaiji had not heart to wake her up. Dokugakuji and Kenren were sitting back to back, the smaller one asleep and the bigger one gazing at the stars. Hakkai was sitting quietly and looking into the fire with Hakuryuu on his shoulder while Sanzo and Kougaiji talked. Goku was still munching on the leftovers and Yaone sat beside Kougaiji also silent.

Around midnight, when everyone had fallen asleep Kenren woke up. He was lying on his side with Dokugakuji not far away. He sat up and the blanket pooled down in his lap. Someone stirred and suddenly the red-headed demon sat up as well. They met each other's eyes and blinked.

"Couldn't sleep?" Kenren asked.

"Something like that. You?"

"Had a bad feeling that's all."

Kougaiji nodded and got up. Kenren rose up and cracked his spine.

"That's creepy," Kougaiji pointed out.

"Yeah, but my back needs it or otherwise I'll look like an old geezer," Kenren said and put a cigarette in his mouth. He was about to light it when they heard a snap from the forest nearby. They both whipped around. Kenren plucked the cigarette from his mouth and began walking, followed by Kougaiji.

A demon came running, but with a graceful kick from Kenren he fell down. The god got up his gun and it shone up briefly before he aimed. Kougaiji in the meantime was having an easy time with blocking and knocking them down. He did not even have to concentrate.

Within a few minutes, the two of them had gotten rid of the small group of demons. Kenren turned to look at the small camp they had made, and were slightly surprised no one had woken up, save for the little dragon. Hakuryuu settled down on the god's shoulder and seemed to yawn.

"Sorry; did we wake you up?" he asked and the dragon nodded. "Well then, I guess we have to make up for it then."

He settled Hakuryuu down onto the blanket he had and bundled the dragon up. The wings moved a little before the creature settled down and snuggled into the blanket. Kenren then moved to sit down at the fire, Kougaiji following. They did not speak much, and Kougaiji laid down for a little more sleep an hour before sunrise. Kenren kept staring into the flames for almost 30 minutes until he heard someone sit up. He looked up to meet Yaone's gaze. He bowed his head to her, and she did the same.

"What kind of sleeping thingy did you use?" he asked and the demon blushed.

"You noticed…?" she said timidly.

"Why did you do it?" he asked curiously.

"We have not had many peaceful nights," she replied, "and when I heard you and Kougaiji-sama fighting I just let it spread out. They will sleep an extra hour."

"That's good," Kenren said. "Maybe we should make breakfast on bed for them, and brag we woke up before Hakkai-san?"

-

"Do you always have days like this?" the god asked Sanzo after yet another encounter with demons.

Sanzo nodded while reloading his gun. Yaone was binding a wound Dokugakuji had sustained on his arm while Lirin and Goku were arguing who took out the most demons. Kougaiji was just shaking his head at the two and Hakkai was petting Hakuryuu's head gently. Kenren put away his gun and ran a hand through his hair as he surveyed the blood bath before them. He felt the demon fire rise within him, waiting to break out. He would not be able to stay in this simple shape forever. But he would wait.

He would wait until he met that particular demon again…

-

Lirin knew she was not the brightest person in their group, nope, never. Yaone was smart, but so was Hakkai too. Same with Sanzo and of course Onii-chan. Dokugakuji would come with good suggestions now and then, Goku just talked about food but made sense sometimes and Kenren was really smart. He just acted a bit carefree.

But she wondered if she was the only one who felt strange around the demon. She wondered why she had the urging instinct to respect him, like he was some big guy among the demons. Sure, he had told them about his special fire but he was pretty sure he did not have demon-blood in him.

So why did she feel like he was a demon?

-

Kenren woke up when Hakkai stopped and looked around. The night was approaching; Kenren must have been sleeping for several hours. He sat up with a yawn and rolled his shoulders as the others got out. The dragons landed and Lirin jumped down, complaining she was hungry. Goku was not late to say the same. Sanzo ignored them both while Hakkai smiled and said dinner should be ready soon. Kenren heaved himself up and lighted a cigarette while looking around.

They had stopped by a stream and the god ran a hand through his hair. Caked blood fell off and he winced. Maybe he should wash while they were here?

He went down there and kicked his boots off. Next he shrugged the uniform from his shoulders and he cautiously stepped into the water. The stream was not deep and the water was coming slowly so Kenren was not worried. It was just it he did not like water that much; maybe it was because of the demon fire resting inside his body. He squatted down and scooped water into his hands. He washed his hair thoroughly, making the water turn into a slight pink colour as it travelled down his back.

"Are you hurt?" came Hakkai's voice from behind him. Kenren felt around and replied:

"I don't think so. Some demon's blood I guess."

But then he hit a sore spot and tensed. Hakkai saw this and came closer. The healer gently began probing and soon found a sallow but long gash at the side of the head.

"This needs healing," the brunette said. "Let me wash it up a bit."

Kenren sat down on the shore of the stream as Hakkai scooped up water in a small bowl. He wetted a small towel, _where the hell did he get that one from_? Kenren wondered, and began cleaning the wound. Kenren hummed on a song and said after a while:

"Looks like I ain't immortal anymore."

"Looks that way," Hakkai murmured. "Then you better be careful."

"Will be," Kenren promised. "Dunno how much I can live up to that promise though."

The brunette laughed a bit and said:

"Gojyo was like that too. You are a bit like him, Kenren, and yet so unlike."

"He was as handsome as me?" the god joked and it made the human turned demon smile broadly.

"You are the same when it comes to bragging," Hakkai replied and put the towel down. "Now hold your head still for a few minutes."

Kenren did so and let the healer work on the wound. He pulled his feet out of the water and crossed his legs while Hakkai worked. After a few minutes the brunette pulled back and said:

"As good as new."

"Great," Kenren said, feeling on the area. "I couldn't really feel the wound before, so I guess it was a good thing I was going to take a wash."

"Your hair looked worse than Goku's," Hakkai said with a smile.

"Great; I'm worse than the kid," the god muttered, making the brunette laugh.

-

The god shifted uncomfortably on the ground for the fifth time in as many minutes. He was not getting any sleep at all. He sat up and stretched. Then he got up on his feet and wandered away a bit from the camp before lighting a cigarette.

"Can't sleep either?"

The young voice made him turn around and face Lirin. She looked at him and he nodded.

"What keeps you up?" he asked her as she sat down next to him.

"Dunno," she replied with a shrug. "Just can't sleep. You?"

"Same here."

They sat in silence for a while, Kenren making sure the smoke did not get into Lirin's direction. After a while the demon's eyes began to drop close and she slumped against his side. Kenren blinked and looked down at her.

"Sleepy," she mumbled, and the raven-haired man could not help but chuckle quietly at her.

-

Sanzo awoke and sat up abruptly. He looked wildly around himself but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He took a moment to calm his racing heart after the dream and then took a second look around. It was barely morning, so early that neither of Hakkai or Yaone was up yet. He rose up and walked away from the camp when he saw Kenren sitting on a rock with a cigarette dangling in his mouth. Lirin was asleep next to the rock, bundled up in not only her own but Kenren's blanket too. She was snoozing quietly but the god still looked at her once in a while to make sure she was okay.

"Didn't know you acted like a mother-hen," Sanzo huffed as he sat down at the stone. The god did not glance at him but replied with a light voice:

"Come on, you hafta be when you take care of kids."

"You've taken care of kids?"

"Kinda. The kid from Earth, you know? He liked being with me 'cause I didn't forbid him anything, I just warned him."

"Just warned him?" Sanzo asked before taking a deep drag of the cigarette that had almost like popped into his hand, lighted and ready. "What kind of guardian is that?"

"I wasn't his guardian," Kenren said. "Konzen was. It's just Konzen wasn't familiar with kids but I was in a way so I spent some time with them."

"Who was the kid then?"

Kenren looked away and replied quietly:

"No one should hear his name."

"Where is that kid?" the priest asked, frowning because of the god's behaviour.

The raven-haired man looked at the blonde briefly before looking in the ground.

"He's free at least," he finally said. "Thank god for small miracles."

He did not speak anymore of the child, and Sanzo did not ask.

* * *

Tbc…

Gaaah, I didn't hold my promise! This chapter is so lame! Alright, let go of the past and look into the future. Damn, it took me almost a month to write this little shit?? It's pathetic but if you got no inspiration you got no inspiration. And I had absoltely no inspiration whatsoever for this fic until today.

Chapter six: They reach their final destination. If this chapter is short, I will get it up soon. If I don't get it up soon, I'm going nuts.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	7. Chapter 7

**Sha Gojyo / Kenren Taichou **

**Summary**: Two souls within one body. One dies, and so the other must resurface.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Blood and some violence.

People out of character in this story.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Saiyuki in any way.

Saiyuki fic. Haven't written many of them so I'll hope you'll still enjoy this.

-

For the very late update, I apologize! I have huge lack of inspiration when it comes to Saiyuki right now; I rode high on several others but have yet to write them down.

Last chapter; enjoy!

-

**Chapter**** Six**

Kenren looked at the sky, blowing out smoke lazily before turning to look at the slumbering party. Goku had snuggled up against the human priest, and while Sanzo was frowning he had yet to push the boy away. Hakkai was lying motionless as usual, Dokugakuji not far away with the sword near him. Kougaiji and Lirin were lying close to each other, Lirin clinging to her brother's arm and Yaone was lying near them. Hakuryuu was curled up on Kenren's shoulder, as the dragon had done for the last few days instead of sleeping.

"You will work yourself to death, little friend," Kenren said to the dragon that only looked at him. Hakuryuu puffed at his head and the god chuckled. He took another drag and whispered to the red-eyed creature, like a secret, "Soon this will all be over."

-

"We will reach the castle within the next few days," Hakkai said, studying the map. "So we need to think up what to do."

"You just can't walk in there and destroy the machines that keep my father alive," Kougaiji said. "There are a lot of guards."

Sanzo thought for a while and then said:

"A trap?"

"A trap in their own building?" the red-haired demon asked.

"You know the castle pretty well," Sanzo said. "Right?"

"Yes, we do," the demon replied.

"Then we will have to rely on you," the priest said. "We will go in there, and kill him."

Kougaiji tried not to think what would happen to his mother; the only sign he let show was a brief sorrow in his eyes. No one saw it but for a raven-haired god.

Kenren frowned as he saw it. What was wrong?

-

Kenren tried to ease the aching in his hand but to no avail. His power wanted out, his real shape wanted out. This was not easy. He had done it better in heaven but now he had no reason to hide himself. He slowly made a fist of his hand before releasing it, looking at it all the while. He made sure no one was watching him as he tried to make the tingling pain stop. The pain was not really hurting him, just damn annoying and he wanted it to stop so he could focus.

The others were eating lunch but food had begun working against him and he had not eaten in two days. If it was of nervousness he did not know. After all, they were only one day from the castle; soon this journey would be over, one way or another.

"Kenren?"

He looked up at Hakkai, who was eyeing him worriedly.

"Hmm?" he replied.

"Are you sure you're not hungry?" the man asked.

"Positive," Kenren said. "I might get something down later."

The healer did not want to leave him though and sat with him for the rest of the lunch. Kenren looked at him and sighed sadly.

"What's wrong?" Hakkai asked and cocked his head.

"Nothing," Kenren said. "You just look a bit like someone I knew."

"Oh. Very good-looking I suppose?"

The reply actually made the former god laugh, and Hakkai smiled.

-

At dinner, Kenren actually got something down that stayed down. Small miracles. The tingling in his body had only grown worse though, and his whole skin was itching. It was annoying and he was actually looking forward to the fight so he could release his powers.

The others were sitting a bit closer to the fire and were planning the attack. Kenren looked at Kougaiji's face as did Lirin, Yaone and Dokugakuji. He wondered yet again why the red-headed youkai looked so sad. He decided to ask him later.

His chance came when the rest went to sleep. Kougaiji had gone a bit away from the camp and Kenren followed him.

"Why are you following me?" Kougaiji asked.

"Thought you might like some company, since something is clearly weighing you down."

"You noticed that?"

"Who didn't?"

The youkai looked at the god who had replaced Gojyo. The blue eyes seemed suddenly very, very old and wise. Not caring that Kenren looked younger than himself, Kougaiji opened his mouth and told an almost total stranger about his mother's condition and what would happen.

-

After Kougaiji had gone to sleep for a bit before the big the following day, Kenren looked over the small stream they were at and thought. So that was why he was so upset. Kougaiji's mother would die the next day because of that bitch.

Maybe he could do something…

Kenren jumped off the stone he was seated on and went into the forest. He came to a clearing and sat down, cross-legged and his hands resting on his knees. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and focused. The only sound was the gentle wind rustling through the trees. After a little while, Kanzeon stepped into the moonlight soundlessly and said:

"It's rare that you call on me; usually it's the other way around."

Kenren opened his eyes and she looked into the deep depths, sighing sadly. He smiled to cheer her up a bit but knew he was going a bad job.

"I need a bit of help," Kenren said as he rose up from his position. His whole body was tingling now, irritating him to no end. Yet he did not show any signs of it.

"Are you going through with your plan?" she asked.

"Yes," the god said. "But not only that. I need help with something else."

She looked at him for a long time, and then said:

"What can I do for you?"

-

When Hakkai woke up, he woke up to the smell of food. He sat up, blinking and saw Kenren sitting by the fire. He was the one cooking, and looked to not really be there.

"Kenren?"

He looked up when hearing Hakkai's voice and smiled a bit.

"I was awake so I thought I would make breakfast," the god said cheerfully.

Hakkai got up and sat down next to the fire. Kenren was making fried rice with bacon and tea.

"Smells lovely," Hakkai said with a real smile. "Have you seen Hakuryuu?"

"He stole my blankets," Kenren informed and jabbed a finger behind himself. The healer looked to where the god was pointing and saw indeed the small dragon curled up within the blankets.

"He's rather sneaky when he wants to be," the brunette said.

"Tell me about it," the raven-haired man replied and rolled his eyes.

-

Sanzo tried to ignore the slight shaking of his hand as he reached for a cigarette. The final day was there, and for the first time the blonde priest feared the outcome the slightest bit. He was not sure how it was going to end; after all, they were only a small group against an army.

He looked over at the others; the demons that knew the castle were preparing their trap while the other two were quiet. Kenren was feeding Hakuryuu as the dragon had become attached to the former god. The man looked unnaturally calm, but Sanzo knew Kenren had had fights like this all the time.

"We are ready," Kougaiji said and looked at them. They all nodded and rose up.

"Hakuryuu," Kenren said and the dragon looked at him. "Can you do me and Hakkai a favour? As we don't want to see you hurt, why don't you take protection where no nasty creatures can reach you?"

The dragon moved its wings violently and Kenren continued:

"I know you don't want that, but we will go with a bang. It will happen a lot, and you might get hurt in the process. Please?"

Hakuryuu looked at Kenren for a long time and then seemed to sigh. The dragon nodded and the god shone up again.

"Go on then," he said and the dragon lifted from his shoulder. It stopped to nuzzle Hakkai's face a bit before flying towards a group of trees.

"Thank you," Hakkai said to the god. "I would never have been able to convince him."

"It's too bad you don't have my incredible charm," the god teased.

Hakkai rolled his eyes.

-

The entrance exploded and several demons were thrown into the walls. Kougaiji, Dokugakuji and Yaone ran in the front and either killed or knocked unconscious all the demons they could. After them came Sanzo, Hakkai and Lirin. Goku and Kenren formed the end.

"My father is on the fifth floor," Kougaiji said to the others that did not know the castle. "The scripts are there as well. Gyokumen is there as well, and she is a bitch to handle when fighting. She will use any tricks she can to win over you, so be prepared."

Kenren hid his grin. Oh, this should be fun…

-

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

"But my lady, your daughter is among them!"

"I don't care!" Gyokumen shouted. "She betrayed me so kill her too! That damn Kougaiji, daring to do this!"

She rose up and shouted:

"I'm going to Rasetsu-nyo! Kougaiji will never see his mother alive when I'm done with her!"

-

Once they came to the fifth floor, it was empty. They could with no problems barricade the heavy doors leading into Gyumaoh's chamber. Before though had Kougaiji controlled so that Ni Jianyi was not in the control-room. Luckily, that room had also been empty.

"How do we destroy this freaking thing?! It's huge!" Goku exclaimed.

"Shut all of the functions off first," Kougaiji said. "We stop giving him life-support and then he will die. After that, I will try to destroy him."

Sanzo plucked the scripts off from a table and looked at them. One of them belonged to his late master, and now him. He put them away in his robes and looked back at the others.

Kenren was standing and looking up at Gyumaoh.

"What's wrong, Kenren?" Hakkai asked.

"I'm having a nostalgic moment," Kenren said and cocked his head. "I remember when we sealed Gyumaoh away."

"No way!" Goku and Lirin shouted. "You were there?!"

"I assisted," Kenren confessed, but I suck at sealing arts to I merely kept him in one place."

"You helped sealing away my father?" Kougaiji asked. Kenren shrugged and said:

"He was a rather violent man if you ask me."

"No kidding," the red-haired demon muttered. "Yaone, come and help me!"

The female demon came to her lord' aid and together they began to shut the life-support off. Kenren looked to his right where a door was. Gyokumen was surely planning to kill Kougaiji's mother. He narrowed his eyes, and began to walk.

"Where are you going?" Sanzo asked as he watched the two demons work.

"Rasetsu-nyo," Kenren said softly and Kougaiji whipped his head up. "Gyokumen is going to kill her."

"Are you going there?" Dokugakuji said. "But you don't know the way!"

"No, but I can feel their energy," Kenren said and turned back to them. "Well, good luck. Once I'm done, I'm sure you are as well. See you later."

He vanished through the open door.

-

"You will die now!" Gyokumen shouted at the sealed away demon. "You will die, and Gyumaoh will be mine!"

"That's what you think."

She turned around and saw a man with black hair, black clothing and blue eyes.

"Who are you?!" she shouted. "Guards! Guards, kill him!"

"Oh, they can't hear you," Kenren replied. "They are kinda dead."

The female demon turned towards him and said:

"You will not kill me."

"Oh, but that's exactly what I will do."

He took off one of his gloves and put two of his fingers to a tattoo on the back of his hand.

"This will be the first time I take away this mask in some millennia," he said with a grin. "Feel honoured to meet my true self."

-

Kougaiji put his arm down and fell to his knees.

"I can't destroy the shell!" he shouted.

"Not even with your summons?" Lirin said as she kneeled by him.

"It's impossible!" he said.

Just then they felt a power-change in the whole castle.

"Whose power is this?" Lirin asked.

"I don't know," Kougaiji said, "but whoever it is, he or she is very strong."

-

The female demon looked on with horror as the man before her changed. Soon there was not a trace of the easy-going Kenren left.

"Who are you?!" she screamed.

"They call me Gyoraku but please call me Kenren. I enjoy that name much more," the ghostly-looking man said. "I'm neither human nor demon, but you cannot call me a god either. Some insisted I shared blood with Gyumaoh; can you believe how foolish they were? Is there really a family resemblance between the two of us, when all that exist is hatred?"

"What do you want?"

"What I want is my own business," Kenren said. He stood now before her with his wild black hair flying in the air and his cold, blue eyes staring down at her. "But for fulfil my wishes, your must die."

He put a hand on her forehead, and all she could do was to scream.

-

The room began to break.

"The castle is being destroyed!" Hakkai shouted as he pulled Goku out of harm's way. "We must leave!"

Dokugakuji helped Kougaiji up while Yaone took a hold of Lirin. Sanzo almost backed into the brunette as he tried to avoid getting crushed.

They got out in the hall and began running down it. Kougaiji almost wanted to fight against his friend's grip when they passed the room with his mother, but he did not do anything.

"Sanzo!"

The priest looked up to see a rock falling towards him. There was no way he would be able to run away in time.

A moment later it was shattered by Goku's Nyoibou. The blonde man ran forward, grabbing Goku's wrist at the same time.

They got out but did not stop running. Once they had come upon a hill did they deem it safe to stop. They all turned around to watch the castle get destroyed.

"Wait!" Lirin suddenly shouted. "Kenren is still in there!"

"We can't do anything for him now!" Kougaiji said. "Either he got out as well, or we pray he gets a quick death."

-

Once the castle had stopped breaking, an eerie silence laid itself upon the place. They dared walking closer and it was now Kougaiji began to realize his mother, whom he had fought so hard to get back, was now most likely dead.

"It's over," Goku said. "Do you think Kenren is dead?"

"I can't see how anyone would be able to survive this," Hakkai said quietly.

As if to prove him wrong, a stone began to move. They all back away when they saw a woman's hand.

"Gyokumen?" Sanzo hissed at Kougaiji. The demon shook his head and said:

"Doesn't look like her."

A demon finally pushed the stone away and Kougaiji stared at her. Her hair was deep red, just like Kougaiji's and she wore similar earrings as the red-haired demon. Kougaiji took a step forward and said:

"Mother?"

Rasetsu-nyo looked up and her eyes locked with her son. She stumbled a bit and replied:

"Kougaiji?"

His smile was enough to convince her. Kougaiji's mother ran to her son and closed him in a tight hug.

"I never thought I would see you again," she whispered.

The others gave the two some room.

"How?" Kougaiji asked. "How did you survive?"

"There was a man," Rasetsu-nyo said and looked back at the destroyed castle. "He saved me."

"What did he look like, mother? What was his name?"

"He seemed to melt away right before my very eyes," she said. "But he told me his name should not be known. He called himself Kenren though. He was an ancient god, a god not allowed to be in heaven anymore because they were rumoured to be too close related to demons. He should have been executed long ago if not for the position he had."

"What position?"

"You all know of the Kanzeon Bosatsu?"

"Yes," Lirin replied.

"Apparently, he was in her seat before," Rasetsu-nyo said, trying to remember what he had told her about his life. "He raised her, and took care of her. Then he was being hunted. He changed from being one of the highest gods to be one of the soldiers. He was then killed 500 years ago and stored in a mortal body. Which lead to a mortal man died not long ago and Kenren was revived."

"We know it," Kougaiji said. "Mother, Kenren travelled with us."

"He also said, I would give Sanzo ikkou a message," she said. "Which ones are those?"

Sanzo looked at her and said:

"I'm the Sanzo."

"We are part of Sanzo ikkou," Hakkai said and pointed at Goku.

She looked at them and said:

"What once was dead shall come back to life. Wept tears shall have been spilled unnecessarily, for the Merciful God has given you a companion back."

They all stared at her. Then Hakkai put his hands before his mouth and whispered:

"It can't be…"

Goku looked at her and said:

"He's given us Gojyo back?"

"We have to check," Dokugakuji said. "Now."

"Mother, are you well enough for a journey?"

"I am fine," she said. "I want to know who he meant as well."

-

They travelled with the demon's dragons this time because it would go faster. Hakuryuu was safe in Hakkai's arms and looked around. He seemed to understand that Kenren was no longer there, and had therefore been a bit down for the first part of the journey.

They travelled at fast speed for an entire day before they reached the place where they had put Gojyo's dead body in a cold stone coffin. The exhausted dragons landed and Hakkai was the first one off. Goku was not far behind and to their shock, Sanzo beat Dokugakuji to be the third. The human priest might have been a bit more saddened by the fact Gojyo had died than what they thought.

As they came to the grave, Hakkai nearly fell to his knees. Gojyo looked up at them from where he was sitting with his back leaning onto the stone coffin, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. His body was healed; not even a smallest scratch was on his body.

"Yo," he said in a typical Gojyo-manner and grinned. "Did I miss anything while I was gone?"

Hakkai gave out a choked sob and stumbled to his friend. He threw his arms around the redhead and Gojyo gave out a yelp.

"You're alive!" Hakkai said and took a good look at Gojyo, his hands keeping Gojyo's head in place.

"Yep," Gojyo said, smiling reassuringly at his friend. "Kinda unpleasant the journey back to life, but Kenren never really intended on staying."

"He didn't?" Goku said.

"No," the hanyou said and looked at them. "He just thought he would help you guys a bit, and then reverse back so my soul was in charge and he sleeps in here."

He tapped his chest as he spoke.

"Did you speak to Kenren?" Hakkai asked.

"Only a little bit," Gojyo said with a shrug. "He told me he once was this high and almighty god but because he was feared the other gods tried to kill him, of course. No one paid attention to a quiet soldier by the name of Kenren, and no one suspected him of being who he had been before. 'cept for Kanzeon though; she saw through it at once but never said a word."

Hakkai could nearly not stop staring at his friend as they decided to camp out that night. Kougaiji spoke mostly to his mother about what had happened, and the others talked about this and that. Gojyo looked around the campsite at the different people and took a deep breath of his cigarette. He could feel Kenren inside of him, a warmth spreading throughout his whole body. He found himself liking the feeling. He hoped that Kenren could see what he could, so the god would feel a bit happier.

"Are you alright?" Hakkai asked.

Gojyo looked at his friend and gave a grin.

"Feeling on top of the world," he replied. "All thanks to Kenren."

"You know, I might even miss him a bit," the brunette said. "He was a very good friend."

"Did he have my charm as well?" the redhead asked and waggled his eyebrows.

Hakkai laughed and replied:

"Oh, he most certainly had that."

End

* * *

Abrupt ending, but it felt right. What did really happen in the castle? A real mystery isn't? And it will forever remain a mystery.

Until another time,

Ja,

Tiro


End file.
